


Shades of Red

by EmotionsofInk



Category: League of Legends RPF
Genre: Blood and Injury, Feels, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Jake is like super big brother and will protect his boys no matter what, Stubborn Danish midlaners, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-26
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-10-16 12:44:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17549909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmotionsofInk/pseuds/EmotionsofInk
Summary: When a security breach causes the LCS to go into lock down, Liquid find themselves locked in, a situation under any other circumstances might have been a little bit of a laugh. But when you had a stubborn midlaner that had a cold that was so much more than a cold, all instances of fun turn to fear...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello - I hoped to get this up as a full completed one-shot before opening weekend but work kicked me when I was down this week and everything just kind of got out of hand... So I decided to split it into two parts, the final part should be up by the end of the week. 
> 
> I wanted to write something about Liquid being a team together, and of course, it had to involve putting Nicolaj in mortal danger, because that is what I do it seems XD

Like the candy blush across your face,  
the deep rose of desire, crimson blood in your veins  
washed in shades of red is how I remember

“I can’t believe they actually made you come in – it’s ridiculous, you should be at home resting.” He paused, looking his team-mate over, “Or even better, in hospital.”

“Come on, I’m not that bad…”

“Really and what would you say if I. I don’t know – stopped supporting you?”

“Please don’t…” His voice was quiet as he buried his head back into the older player chest, he breathed out deeply – trying to ignore the soaring head of the fever crashing through him. He hated being sick, he hated being useless – more than anything – he hated all the back-lash that he was about to get from this.

“It’s alright, we’re going to get you straight home all nice and cosy and you can watch us destroy your old team from the comfort of a nice warm bed.”

“Ugh, people are going to think I’m faking it.”

“Yeah well, fuck those people.”

Team Liquid made there way through the well-known corridors of the LCS studio they had come on the day before their opening match with C9, to prove to the powers that be that they had to switch out their midlaner last minute. Hence the very sick, very rough looking Nicolaj was slung over Jake’s shoulder. One look at the Dane told anyone that as much as he wanted to play, he was in condition to do so. There was sick, and then there was bed-ridden and not being able to see straight. 

The news had been announced as soon as they had the okay and of course, of course people were already calling him out about it.

“I do not understand these people,” Jo’s English was stuttered slightly, the support’s accent heavy on his words. “Are these not the same people that told you and Zachary to leave the team when you were, ah, benched?”

“Yup.”

“And now they are angry at you for doing just that – except you were a decent person about it and did it after a whole year?”

“Welcome to the so-called fans, it’s alright…” Nicolaj coughed horribly, shaking as he did so. “I’m kind of use to the hate by now to be honest.”

“Doesn’t mean that it’s right though?”

The midlaner just hummed in agreement before going back to snuggling into Jake, the harsh lights of the hallways caused his head to burn, he wanted out of here – now.

“Hey, to silence the haters you could just send them the view from your hospital bed.”

“I’m not in hospital.”

“Oh I know – but you are going there.” There was an intense finality to Jake’s voice and Nicolaj didn’t even bother arguing. He supposed hospital was a good thing, it would hopefully mean he would get better quicker and not have to miss too many weekends. 

“It’s alright Dude, Bonnie said that she would keep you company and make sure you are alright – the two of you can watch it together.”

“Great, now I’m being a nuisance to her as well.”

Peter frowned, “You are not a nuisance!” 

Nicolaj actually chuckled at this, “Tell that to almost every other person that had to deal with me when I’m sick.”

“Not true,” It was Eon-Yeong that said this the ex and once again current team mate of Nicolaj frowning, “I never thought that – just that you are a monkey for letting it get so bad.”

“So bad like this?”

“No,” The toplaner shock his head at Peter, lowering his voice slightly as he added, “I’ve never seen it this bad… I am actually worried.” The two of them shared a look, before nodding in understanding, the toplaner mentioned something about going on ahead – ignoring Nicolaj’s protest about calling an ambulance and quickly making his way down the corridors.

“I don’t… I don’t want it to come here, why can’t you just take me home.”

“Because this is way quicker, unless you want me to fully carry you and run though the corridors?”

Nicolaj pouted at this, shaking his head, knowing full well what a fast pace would do to him in his current state. “Probably not a good idea, unless you want me to throw up on you?”

“On this new team jersey – not on your life, still…” With a smirk Jake shuffled his weight before twisting his arm up and around, pulling his midlaner up into his own bridal style. “This is still better.”

“Ah,” Nicolaj couldn’t stop the deep blush that crossed his face, “Jake what…?”

“Don’t argue.” Was all Jake said as the rest of the team laughed, making their way through the hallways, Nicolaj eventually gave in and actually sinking into Jake’s arms. He tried to ignore Peter’s and Jo’s whispers about great photo opportunities.

They began to make their way to the entrance and we’re almost at the main foyer when a burst of sound crashed through the hallways accompanied by whirling red lightly that washed them all in the colour.

“What – what the fuck is?”

Booming sounds echoed around the corridors, metal hitting metal, concrete crushing down. There was a moment of shock and confusion before a metal door came crashing down mere inches in front of them – blocking off their path to the exit.

“What… what even is…”

“Hey! Get out of the hallways now – over here!”

They ran towards, the yell, the sound of metal gates crashing down behind them echoing in their ears. As they ran into the room, they barley made it in, now locked in it as the door was bared by a metal gate.

**x-x-x**

“A security breach?”

“Apparently, so the whole place is on lockdown… there is a first for everything I guess. I am glad I managed to catch up, spending it in a tiny space in a hallway.”

“Spending it anywhere is not ideal to be honest.” Peter folded his arms across his chest and indicated to the side of the room where the rest of his team were, “I hope that we’re not here too long.”

“Do you know what’s wrong?”

Peter sighed, “We thought it was just a bad cold.”

William snorted, the ex-C9 jungler remembering many instances of the stubborn midlaner and his so-called colds. “With that idiot, it’s never just a cold.”

“I – I heard that, rude to insult me when I’m all down and not able to defend myself.”

“I’ll never stop insulting you Jensen.”

A string of Danish curse words and insults came out of Nicolaj’s mouth at this, causing a chuckle to come from the other person in the room. “Come on, if you’re going to insult him – do it in a language he understands.”

“Fuck you,” Nicolaj shot back at his fellow midlaner, although there was no venom behind the words and the death glare was somewhat lessened by the fact that Nicolaj looked so ill. “Jake?”

“Mmm?”

“You can put me down now, you know?”

The jungler laughed, “Yeah, uh, sorry, um, you probably can’t…”

“Stand yeah, please rub it in and say it louder so what’s left of my dignity is gone.”

“Sorry.”

Nicolaj just sighed, shaking his head, “No it’s my fault – for, ah never mind…” He trailed off into a fit of coughs, as he found himself lying on a awkward couch, lounge chair thing. It was a bit uncomfortable and he wasn’t about to admit that Jake’s arms were more comfortable.

“Maybe you should try to just rest? Sorry, we got you stuck in here…”

“Nah, it’s the other way around, who knows this could have been fun if I wasn’t here dragging everything down…”

Jake rolled his eyes, his voice dripping with sarcasm, “Yes, you are such a nuisance.”

“Rude – leave me to feel sorry for myself, alone thank you very much.”

“Yeah, yeah…” Jake went to walk away at this, but before heading over to the others, he shrugged off his jersey and threw it at Nicolaj. He watched out of the corner of his eyes as Nicolaj rolled over slightly, snuggling into the jersey and using it’s a make shift blanket.

“So,” Jake joined his team, drawing out the word, “When are we getting out of here?”

“No idea, no one actually knows what is going on. A lot of people are stuck like us as well.” Søren sighed, the TSM midlaner waving his phone in the air. “I can’t get through on calls but messages are slowly going through… I think…”

“You think?” Peter narrowed his eyes, “We need to get out of here as soon as possible, or at least know when we are so that…” He started to panic, not knowing what to do, how to help, even if they could help. He was feeling pretty useless and if there was one thing he hated, it was feeling useless.

“Hey calm down, you’re going to have a panic attack.” Søren had known Peter long enough to see it in the way he twitched slightly, how he began to ring his hands together. “You’re acting like it’s life threatening…” He paused, suddenly narrowing his eyes. “it isn’t life threatening, is it?”

“It’s so bad he’s actually admitted he needs to go the hospital – take from that what you will.”

Søren made a humming sound at this, looking back to where Nicolaj was wrapped up in Jake’s jersey – sleeping restlessly. “At least he is getting some rest… why are you guys even here, anyway?”

It was the Liquid support that answered this, rolling his eyes as he did so. “They wanted us to prove that he was actually sick, seeming it was so last minute.”

“Well, that’s a bit stupid.”

The small group fell into an uneasy silence, not knowing what to say – it was only broken by the sporadic chimes of txt messages that slowly came through to them and the small, soft, coughs coming from the corner. Minutes dragged by and slowly those minutes turned into hours and the group become restless.

The room continued to be washed in the red light of the security breach and echoing in the distance more clanging of metal on metal, gates falling into place. Eventually they all found themselves near the end of the room, taking up places around the restless midlaner.

Jake stayed the closest, full on in protection mode as he kept his hand near Nicolaj’s, trying to stop the temptation to take it. He hated that there was nothing he could do, in a way he was almost glad every time his teammate coughed, the sound at least told him that he was still there, that he was still breathing. It was when the coughing stopped that something pinged in his stomach and alarm bells rang in his head. 

In the last while the coughs had become more and more frequent, which they didn’t really know if it was a good thing or not. Nicolaj hadn’t woken since they had made their way over, but suddenly – his eyes snapped open, he gasped and the coughing just stopped.

All eyes suddenly moved towards Nicolaj to see the midlaner twisted and wrapped around Jake’s jersey, now lying as his back, hands gripping the sides of the couch in pain, bloodshot and teary eyes blinking, looking this way and that as if seeing something none of them could see. His mouth moved but no sound came out.

“Nicolaj?” Jake moved forward in concern, taking one of his hands and squeezing it tightly. Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed everyone move closer as well, concern and worry crackling in the air. “Nicolaj, what can I do – what can we do to help?”

He continued to open his mouth, nothing come out but gasps, his shaking hands he pressed up against the couch as if trying to move or lift himself upwards. But he didn’t have the strength. In a split second they all figured it out and the room was filled with yells and shocked concern. Jake surged forward, lifting Nicolaj up and sideways at the same time.

The reaction was immediate, a heavy, racking cough left Nicolaj clearing his airways, he continued to splutter slightly, his whole body shaking as he clung to Jake for support. The fear and concern grew as the red lights glinted off the red blood that now stained the couch, the jersey and Nicolaj and Jake themselves. The room fell silent once more, now broken by gasps instead of coughs and the sick quiet dripping sound of blood hitting a surface, pooling under them and staining everything it touched.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I lied and this got out of hand and now there are three chapters XD But quick updates at least, thanks for everyone that's checking this out. Last part should be up in the next few days :D

Blood red lips, is no longer something we just say  
On my hands, crack and faded of rust  
And washed in Red is where you’ll be

Through the silence, Nicolaj’s voice echoed, shaking, quiet and broken with coughs and gasps, the Danish was heavily broken, as if the words weren’t even there – mixed and twisted with English. He muffled the same word over and over again and he gripped Jake tightly, shaking and trying his best to not react as the blood continued to spill from his mouth.

“Stop it, please, just stop...” Søren moved forward, falling to his knees beside Nicolaj and talking his hands, shaking his head as Nicolaj went to protect the transfer of blood this caused. “Stop apologizing.”

Nicolaj flinched at this, as if he almost forgotten Søren was there and could understand his ramblings. “But I…”

“What, none of this is your fault – it is not like you asked for this to happen.”

“But, but they,” Nicolaj coughed, breathing deeply as if the simple thing of saying a simple word caused pain. “But the stains, and, and if I wasn’t here – maybe this could actually be, fun…”

“Fuck the stains, I couldn’t care less.” Jake gripped him tighter, “Right now all I care about is…” His voice trailed off and he raised a hand to wipe away the small amount of blood trailing and dripping down. “Fucking hell, what do we – how can I help, I…”

Nicolaj just breathed out deeply at this, ignoring the crash of pain that flowed through him and shifting slightly, his head resting on Jake’s chest, all he could feel was surging heat and pain. All he could taste was copper, the blood overpowering everything.

The weight of Jake’s hand on top of his head, his fingers running through his hair, was actually calming, it took away a small amount of the pain. But it also increased his feeling of being absolutely useless. He wasn’t too sure what to think if he was honest and right now all he was trying to go was push past the pain and try not to showing it much. Although he was pretty sure that throwing up a large amount of blood didn’t paint a pretty picture of being okay.

“It’s okay, you know.” Jo’s voice shook slightly, the support feeling uneasy at the sight of his team-mate and new friend in such a state. “You don’t have to pretend that everything is okay – you are allowed to show the pain.”

“Ha, another typical stubborn trait, where have I heard that before?”

Nicolaj held his head up for a moment, a small smile, a true one gracing over at William who was giving him a look at both fear and understanding. Nicolaj just muttered something about hating the jungler before burying himself back into Jake’s chest. Breathing out deeply he let the weight leave him, his tense shoulders loosening, the grip he had one Jake increased, his knuckled whitening under the crimson stains of blood.

No one mentioned the tears that were now slowly dripping down his face.

Time slowed, Jake and Nicolaj had a quiet conversation before the midlaner drifted off to sleep again. This time, Jake was determined to stay with him, making sure he was comfortable as he could be through whatever it was that was afflicting him.

****

x-x-x

“There has to be something we can do,” William stood at the side of the room, inspecting the black gate that had blocked their exit. “I mean, I know it’s supposed to be high tech security thing, but we should get out – we need to.”

“We could always smash the windows, but then we will be stuck in the corridors.”

William sighed at this, “Not unless we break through those as well…”

The two of them shared a look, Søren frowning slightly as he realized what the glee on William’s face meant. “Seriously?”

“Mmm, seriously.”

A few moments later, a great echoing crashed around the small room as William had picked up a chair and crashed it into the glass. It splintered slightly but did not break.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Peter shrieked, looking back over his shoulder at the jungler. “Some of us are trying to sleep!”

“Yes, but we need to get out – so we thought…” He rammed the chair into the glass once again and grinned in triumphant as the glass shattered. “Well, I thought it was about time we do something about it.”

Peter frowned, “And what are you going to do now, get lost in those corridors?”

“Hopefully not, you stay here – I’ll go see if I can find a path out, no point in all going if there is nothing but dead ends.”

“You should take something so you can find your way back.” Jo commented, looking around the room. “Ah – here we go.” He pulled out an assorted range of papers from a shelf, ripping up one them into small pieces, “Paper trail?”

“Right, good idea – okay wish me luck.”

“You really shouldn’t go out there by yourself.”

“Oh, it’s not like I am afraid of red blinking rights of anything.”

Jake snorted from in the corner, his arms still around a restless Nicolaj, “I will be, after this.”

“I will come with you – two is better than one.” Søren shrugged, “Maybe it will be faster with the two of us.” In quick succession they helped each other remove the broken glass away from the ledge, giving them a safe place to move out into the red washed hallways.

“I hope they know what they are doing.”

“That idiot never does.” The soft comment came from Nicolaj who shifted in Jake’s arms before peeling himself out of his arms, blushing slightly. “Ah, thanks for the pillow?”

“Anytime.” Jake shifted as well, moving so that the two of then could sit side by side. “So, asking the obvious but how are you feeling?”

“Honestly, like absolute shit.”

“Even more honestly?”

Nicolaj paused, “I… my vision is blurry, my head feels like it’s about to explode and all I can taste is blood. And breathing…. Breathing is hard.” He sighed, the deep breath causing him to cough slightly, a small sprinkle of blood staining his hand. “All in all, I feel, like this might be what dying feels like.”

“Please don’t put that image in our heads.” Peter commented as he began to move over towards them, “I’m having enough trouble with the images I already have in my head.”

“Sorry…”

“No apologizing.”

Nicolaj just blinked, leaning backwards and cringing at the pull of pain this caused he decided on leaning on Jake instead. “So, we’re just breaking out?”

“Trying to, you’re not moving, until we’re certain we have found a way out.”

“Fair enough, does that… does that mean I can go back to sleep?” The sentence was broken by coughs, each one causing his body to shake, fresh blood bubbling from his mouth. “Staying…. Staying awake is too hard – too much, too much energy…” He closed his eyes and snuggled back into Jake, “Such, such a comfy pillow.”

Jake just sighed, shifting so that Nicolaj slunk down, his head now resting on his lap as he drifted back to sleep. He stayed upright this time, running his hands though his hair.

“It’s not your fault.”

“What?”

“I know, I know that look, you have somehow managed to find a way to blame yourself. But it is not, there is no way in any universe that you could have prevented this.” Peter was glaring at his jungler, “All of us, we’re doing what little we can – we could never have predicted this, so please don’t carry the blame. He wouldn’t want you to.”

Jake just sighed and continued to run his hands through Nicolaj’s hair, watching the colours of the now dried blood stuff through the red lights illuminating it even more. Under him, the midlaner shuddered, a long-hitched breath leaving him, before nothing, silence.

Panic rose in them once again.

“Nicolaj?” It was Jo that moved forward, placing a hand on the midlaners ribs before moving it quickly to his hands and then his collarbone. With every movement the panic increased and his hands shook. “No, not, he is not… there is no breathing!”

“What!” Peter rushed forward, checking himself. “Fuck, fuck – he’s right, he’s stopped breathing.”

Jake moved and shifted quickly, hoping it was the same thing as last time, but to no avail – there was no reaction – no movement, no sound. There was just nothing – and the panic turned to complete terror.

“No! Fucking hell, no don’t you dare do this to us! Do you hear me, don’t you, no, not this…”

“Jake…” Peter watched, in stunned shock as Jake was suddenly only on his knees beside Nicolaj, staring to try to perform CPR, breathing into his mouth before pushing on his chest. And as time went on and Jake’s hands were shaking too much, Jo took over the comprehensions. Muttering incoherently under his breath in Korean.

Peter felt hopeless, he could barley stand, shaking, shivering. He placed a hand over his mouth to stop the scream as he found himself, unbalanced, falling to the ground and gripping his hands into fists. He didn’t understand, barley a few moments ago they were talking, he just couldn’t understand.

“Please, please come back, please don’t do this, not…” Seconds ticked by but it felt like a lifetime, seconds turned into minutes, turned into dread at how long it was taking. Seconds turned into a time that it couldn’t be possible – that there seemed there was no going back. And then…

“There, it’s feint but…” Nicolaj’s chest had moved up and down, barley even a movement, he hadn’t made a sound, hadn’t even twitched, but he had breathed, and that is all that mattered. 

Jake stopped for a second, his shaking hands reaching out to check for a pulse, he wanted to cry as he felt the feint throb under his fingers. “It, it’s there but I don’t… I don’t know how long…” His voice trailed off into a choke, looking down at the paler than usual Nicolaj. Blood flecked across his pale skin, some of it had dried so much that it looked like rust. “I don’t know if he can hang on…”

“Then we are getting out of here – now.” Peter had somehow managed to move to his feet, shaking still, as he made his way over to the broken window, beginning to clear it as soon as he could of the shards of glass and jumping over to the other side. “We may not even know if it leads out – but if we follow the paper trail, it might be our only hope.”

“You’re right – we have to try.” Jake got to his feet and with Jo’s help managed to get Nicolaj up in his arms, the sight of him hanging over his arms made him want to scream. Breathing out deeply he held him close, pressing his forehead down on his, “Hang on, please. We’re going to get you out of here – but just, hang on…”

Somewhere deep down in his subconscious, Nicolaj wanted to respond. He heard the words through the deep pain, he wanted to tell them that he would try – but he was washed in nothing but red. He just had to let go of everything, putting his very life, in the hands of his team

****

x-x-x

The sight of sunlight was a welcomed one and when William and Søren crashed through they gate they forced open and tumbled out onto the concrete the warmth of the sun surged them on.

“Okay, now we just need to run back and go and get everyone else, piece of cake.” William was out of breath, the two of them had run as fast as they could though the corridors of the studio they knew so well, it had been turned into a maze with all the new gates. They had used a lot of strength to break through certain parts and in any normal circumstances they would want to rest but this was not normal circumstances.

“What the hell, where did you two come from?” The question came from the group of people that were now surrounding them – rushing over to check if they were okay. “Did you just break the lock-down?”

“No time, for stories – we have to go back in there to find…”

“Wait? You know where my team is?” Eon-Yeong moved forward, the toplaner looking flushed with worry. “I have ambulance here but they didn’t come back out…”

“Ambulance, wait, what?” It was had to distinguish who’s voice it was through all the muttering. “I thought Jensen being sick was all a meme or something about not playing against C9?”

Søren rolled his eyes, “Yes, because throwing up blood is really faking it for the memes.”

“Blood?” Eon-Yeong’s worry spiked, “He is worse than before?”

“Yes, and if we don’t get back in there now…” William was cut off by a loud wailing sound from the building, it crashed through the silence before it suddenly cut off. The gate they had forced open began to rise and inside, they could hear and see the gates begin to move. “Oh looks like the lock-down has cleared, how… very typical.”

There were mummers of concern and confusion as William and Søren went to go back inside. Eon-Yeong going over to the ambulance, updating them on increasing their urgency, as they talked, they walked forward. They had just opened the main doors when they say them making their way around the corner.

Peter and Jo were in the front, determined looks on their faces, their pace quickening at the sight of the opened doors and everyone waiting for them.

“Peter!” The call came from some of the AD’s former team-mates, who had been worried about him. “You’re okay – damn when we heard that you guys were stuck, I would hate to be in there.”

“Get the hell out of my way, where is that ambulance?”

“Peter – over here.” The toplaner moved forward, pushing past people with the paramedics to get to his teammate. And as Peter and Jo moved forward, the crowd got their first look at Jake and the unconscious midlaner in his arms.

Everyone was stunned into complete silence, the pale skin, the complete lack of life, the blood, that glinted I numerous shades of red under the sunlight.

“He… he looks worse than when we left, how…?”

“Yeah well, not breathing and actually being dead for a few minutes will do that to you.” Peter’s words were empty, cold, the harsh truth of what he had seen was something that he would always remember.

“I’m staying with him,” Jake was suddenly by his team, looking flustered at the fact that Nicolaj was no longer in his arms. “They’re letting me ride with them, I will see you there.” And with that he ran back to the paramedics and back to Nicolaj – jumping into the ambulance and immediately taking the midlaners hands.

The door closed behind him and the ambulance speed away from the shocked crowd in front of the studio.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone for reading - here is the final part, I think I will make a series out of this, I think there is a lot of potential to write some really interesting team dynamics. The next one will be called "Shades of Black" but it might be awhile before I get started on it.

the sun burns crimson across the sky  
above us lights warn and paint  
washed in Red are the lies we tell  
through shades of Red we fall

The paramedics had worked around him, walking back and forth, connecting IV lines and wire of all kinds to Nicolaj, every now and then they would ask and question regarding what had happened and he would answer as them as best as he could. Words like “blood loss” and “shock”, terrifying things like “fading pulse” and “system failure” were things that he tried to block out.

He focused on keeping his hand firmly in Nicolaj’s, making sure that even in a small way, he knew that he was not alone. Jake was determined to be there for all of it, which is why it crushed him so much when they got to the hospital. The doctors and nurses actually having to pry his hands away, a waiting room – all he got after everything they had gone through, was a waiting room.

He wanted to scream and more than that – he wanted to cry. And he might have, just a little bit, when the rest of his team arrived, when players from other teams came asking, when he was suddenly bombarded with questions. The words came back to him, blood loss, system failure, the horrible sound of the AED being charged – the yells of Doctors asking for adrenaline. 

“Jake?”

“He… he crashed on the way here. It was horrible…” He shocks his head, trying to breath thorough the tears that were forming in his eyes. “The doctors, they – they are not hopeful – they don’t know what’s wrong.”

It was the harsh truth and he hated it, he hated it because it made the tears fall even faster.

Time slipped by, hours and hours passed, people came and go, knowing that waiting won’t be any helping, knowing that they would be told if anything changes. The team stayed however, waiting hours upon hours, not waiting to leave without their new team mate and friend. Images played over and over in his head, shades of red colouring their memories. They waited and waited, and the fear grew, the sorrow gripped them as they all realized there was nothing they could do.

_To all you idiots out there, ten hours and counting in an emergency waiting room. Anyone who says he was faking it can just sit down and shut the fuck up._

****

**x-x-x**

One word that could always, be used to describe him was stubborn, no matter what the context it fitted him perfectly. It was who he was, and who he would always be, period. So, to hell, with all the science and the medical history and everything else, his teammates had asked him to hold on, so that’s exactly what he was going to do.

He didn’t care that people didn’t come back from having spent so much time without breathing, he didn’t care that it was borderline impossible for the amount of blood loss to be rectified in enough time for him to recover. The odds didn’t matter to him, all that mattered was what he had promised – all that mattered was that he was going to hold tightly onto that thread that was his life and never, let it go.

He wasn’t ready yes, so he dug in his heels, he stood his ground. Screw the science and the facts and the history – he wasn’t dying, not today – not like this. He pulled himself out of the depths, away from the shades of red and into the lights of the bright, white, serene, hospitality. Red washed crimson was replaced with white colours, smiling faces and bright blue eyes.

“My,” The voice held a small chuckle to it, “You are a stubborn one – aren’t you?”

Nicolaj blinked wondering how many painkillers were currently running through his system that caused him to feel as good as he did. “Well, I couldn’t let my team down, they believe I can…” He breathed deeply, “I can get through this…”

“Well, you certainly have, to be honest Mister Jensen – you have kind of defied the odds.”

He smiled, feeling sleep over take him, but it was a nice sleep, a calming one. “Defining odds is kind of what I do.” He let the sleep over take him at this, content in the knowledge that he was in good hands, content that maybe when he woke up next it would be to a familiar face.

****

**x-x-x**

“He’s… okay?”

“Okay, is not quite the word I’d use but he is alive and fighting. He pulled through, a miracle in itself.”

“Can we see him?”

“Well, hospital policy is very clear regarding fragile cases like this.”

“Do you really think any of us would hinder anything you do – we just want to see him and be with him.” Jake wrung his hands together, “You have already taken him away from me once before…” It still hurt, the pang of guilt he felt for leaving him alone, for having to let go of his hand. “Please, hearing he is okay is one thing, seeing him is completely different.”

“Normally, it would just be family and doesn’t have any emergency contacts, but seeming Mister Jensen doesn’t have any of those…”

“And you know, if you really waned to you could call his family back in Denmark.”

“Please?”

The Doctor looked at the four pleading faces in front of him before sighing in defeat. “Fine but, no touching anything, no looking at the equipment, no direct contact. His immune system is way too unstable at the moment. And most importantly, no waking him or keeping him up, what Mister Jensen needs now is rest – his systems need as much time to recover.”

“Of course.”

“Yeah, we would never do anything to hinder his recovery.”

“And we’ll make sure no one else does either.”

“Thank you Doctor we understand that this is slightly unorthodox.”

The Doctor sighed, “the fact that he survived is slightly unorthodox, so I guess we can keep up the trend, follow me if you would please.” They gratefully followed the Doctor to Nicolaj’s room, filtering on one by one and taking sight of the midlaner.

All the blood was gone, washed away from his skin. The paleness was still there, striking against the red and blue wires that wires that attached to him, tubes and IV lines were also around him, one with a steady flow of blood. The crimson liquid moved steady through the lines, giving the Dane the much needed replenish of the blood.

“Please don’t be alarmed everything here is for his own good and recovery.”

“I am glad that there is no blood anymore. Maybe I should…” Jake looked down at his own at his own hands, in all the chaos and worry he hadn’t thought of washing his hands. Now the dried blood screamed up at him, almost like it could laugh up at him.

“You may use the bathroom provided, if you like.” The doctor indicated to the private bathroom that was connected to the room. “I will leave you here, someone will come in every half an hour to monitor his progress.”

As Jake moved into the bathroom to scrub the blood off hands as the rest of the team took positions around the bed, weary of all the medical equipment. When Jake returned to the room, he noticed that the team had left a seat near the head of Nicolaj’s bed free, the only place someone could sit and take one of his hands without disturbing the wires. 

He gave his team a grateful smile and took up his vigil, hand clasping tightly around the midlaners. He was thrown into shock when almost immediately there was a reaction, Nicolaj’s fingers twitched in his hand and he squeezed back. It was light and there was no real strength in it, but it was there.

He wanted to scream in happiness as he looked from the hand up to Nicolaj to see his eyes opened, blinking up at him. “Hey you, welcome back.” The team moved forward slightly, still very weary of the tubes and wires. Nicolaj wrinkled his nose and frowned, realizing how fry his throat was. “Hey, no you don’t have to speak, just rest up, we’ll be waiting here. Okay – just to keep you company.”

Nicolaj craned his neck at this, viewing Peter and Jo at the end of the bed, a smile crossing his face as they waved at him. Eon-Yeong gave him a grin from his left before he returned his gaze, back to Jake.

“Just rest up – we’re not going anywhere, I promise.”

****

**x-x-x**

Nicolaj slipped in and out of sleep over the next few days, everyday some wire of some kind was removed, IV’s were replaced by him actually eating or drinking. With each day, the Doctors checked up on him less and less, content at his progress. It was in the fifth day, when all the wires were gone and all the tubes were gone, that the midlaner found he could stay awake for more than a few hours.

“This means I can go home, right?”

His team mates rolled their eyes and the Doctor chuckled, “We are not quite there yet Mister Jensen. You still have a long recovery road in front of you.”

“But I can do most of that recovery at home, right?”

“Leave it to the end of the week and if I feel like you’re made enough progress they yes, resting at home could be an option.”

“And…” Nicolaj drew out the word, “How long do you think it will be before I can go back to playing?”

“These… games, are they stressful at all? Do they put any strain on you?”

“Well…”

“The way he plays, yes.”

Nicolaj pouted at his team for this while the Doctor hummed, “Take it day by day, there could be a chance that the strain on your eyes is too much. Also, you must remember that your immune system has completely shut down, contact with anyone that is sick would not be a good idea for you. Don’t take what has already happened lightly.”

“Don’t worry Doc, we’ll make sure he stays safe.”

“Yes, I have seen that over the past few days, you seem to be in very good hands, Mister Jensen.”

The Doctor said his goodbyes for the day before leaving them in the room.

“You know,” Jake moved from the chair he had been sitting on to Nicolaj’s bed, the midlaner immediately snuggling up to him with a grin. “You would think that this whole thing would make you less of a stubborn idiot, not more of one.”

“I just want out of here, I hate that I am dragging you all away from your lives and I’m itching to get back on that stage.”

“Oh I don’t know,” Peter began with a grin, “You know we did really well last weekend, I mean maybe you can just head to academy... What was that word again? Benched?”

Nicolaj pouted, “Oh don’t you even joke about that.” He smiled back before adding with sigh, “I just want to clap some fools, is that too much to ask?”

A sprinkle of laughter filtered through them all as they fell back into the easy routine that they had found other the past few days. Talking about normal things, being content in the silence, happy to just be. Eventually Nicolaj feel asleep, pressed tightly against his jungler, content and rather comfortable himself, Jake soon found himself dozing off as well.

His head resting a top of Nicolaj, his arms wrapped around him, the midlaner was basically siting on his lap, using his chest as a pillow. The team took their chance, taking a quick phot and convincing the marketing team to put it up on the team’s twitter page.

_Looks like Jensen has found a new favourite pillow, although we can’t blame him – that does look quite comfy._

Nicolaj laughed when he saw it the next day, taking the opportunity to reply.

_10/10 comfort, would recommend._

Every single worry he ever had about joining the team was gone – this team had saved his life, had stuck with him through it all. And he would gladly take on the world for them.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading - please let me know what you thought :D I am considering turning this into a series and having one where each member needs to be looked after in some way, we will see how the next few months of inspiration go ^.^


End file.
